Le P'tit Bistro

Gorging on Traditional French Mountain Food in St. Martin

After a long day of sunning myself, surfing, drinking, exploring and just being blissed out amongst the waves and island pace, I was pointed to Le P'tit Bistro by a French ex-pat friend. She said that Le P'tit Bistro served up a traditional dish from her home in France's Franche-Comté Region that would blow our minds. Well, that it did. Consisting primarily of an entire box of Mont d'Or, the "holy-grail of raw milk cheeses" roasted into a melty pile of heaven, it was accompanied with simple roasted potatoes, and finished with a fresh mixed green salad and shavings of a gorgeously cured ham.

It was a truly unexpected sensory experience: the oily, herbaceous bounty of France's mountains covering my fingers; tastes filling me with both a sense of discovery as well as the comfort of a dish prepared by one's grandmother; and, the smells of old France competing with the smell of Caribbean beach wafting across the table with the evening trade winds.

Petit Syrah in hand, it was the perfect way to end the day. Highly recommended, but make reservations if you can, as the place gets busy. If not, saddle up to the bar, grab a rum and engage the crazy mix of locals, ex-pats, yachters and surfers and just let the sound of the night waves take you away.